Unemployment Insurance Claims

The total number of initial Unemployment Insurance claims increased in October, up by 2,420 to 15,315. On an over-the-year basis, however, there were fewer claims, down from 15,504 (a decrease of 1.2 percent). Among industry groups to see large declines in initial claims from 2015 were Mining (202 claims, a 64.2 percent decrease), Wholesale Trade (501 claims, 23.2 percent down), and Finance and Insurance (233 claims, down 15 percent). Groups with a notable increase in claims included Educational Services (up 52.9 percent to 364), Manufacturing (up 6.5 percent to 2,047), and Construction (up 13.6 percent to 3,863).

Broken out by occupational group, we see notable claims increases in Management Occupations (up 46.1 percent to 884), Construction and Extraction Occupations (up 16.6 percent to 4,527) and Architecture and Engineering Occupations (up 52.8 percent to 220). On the flip side of that, declines occurred in Production Occupations (down 16.6 percent to 1,426), Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations (down 18.1 percent to 758), and Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations (down 40.8 percent to 174), among others.